Sharing our outdoor experiences and books along the way…

We Finally Have New Fish In Our Tank!!

It’s Been a Slow Process

We have had our water tested three times, had to replace a heater, add bacteria, but we finally got everything right! (I hope…) Last month when I set up our tank, I set it up with way too much salt so I had to exchange about a third of the tank with fresh water to get the salinity right.

Almost all of us were super excited to go to the pet store, all but Joe. Jayden picked out 5 hermit crabs, Joey was too interested in the ferrets and bearded dragons to care about fish, so Ryan and I picked out a chocolate chip sea star, 2 clown fish that have bonded, and our coolest looking fish… a coral beauty.

Hold Up!

Once we bought the fish, got in the car and started to drive away and I realized, WAIT! Go back, we didn’t get any fish food! Finally we have everything set up! My tank hasn’t had fish in it for about 9 months, so I am super excited and happy!

Clown fish and starfish

Hermit crab

Coral beauty fish

Chocolate chip sea star

I am hoping to add coral and anemones after the tank gets established. But my next investment will be a better lighting system with a timer for when we are camping.

Prices

As far as the cost of the fish, some salt water fish seem so spendy. We bought more reasonably priced fish with the exception of the damsel. The hermit crabs were under $2, the sea star was just under $10, the clown fish were under $20 and we paid just under $30 for the damsel. We bought them at Petco and I was really impressed with the service. We had a marine biology major assisting us, she was awesome. These fish are supposedly hardier for a new tank set up.

We will be feeding them a combination of flake food and frozen brine shrimp. I’m just going to have to find someone to feed them while we’re camping.😳

It’s not too bad if you add things over time. The initial investment is a big one. But then switching to a salt water wasn’t too bad. The trickiest part for me will be when we camp, and finding someone to come over.

I was just saying that to Ryan and if we feed them Friday afternoon they should be ok until Sunday midday? I think… but the clownfish we have are really little. So I’m not sure. they eat a combination of brine shrimp and some flake food twice a day.